Sensational extensions by Doma Architects for the founders of Godfrey and Watt have transformed this 1920s semi in Harrogate

Together, they are well known as the founders of Godfrey and Watt, a Harrogate gallery launched in 1985 that helped bring a host of artists, including Mark Hearld, to a wider audience.

The gallery is now online only, which allows Alex to concentrate on his own work.

However, Godfrey and Watt stages one, pre-Christmas exhibition a year at the couple’s home, which runs for one week only.

This year, visitors enjoyed a fabulous added bonus in the form of three striking new extensions to the rear of the house designed by award-winning Yorkshire architect Ruth Donnelly of Doma Architects.

The new additions are bold and contemporary and a complete contrast to the rest of the property.

They feature a clever, angular composition that delivers space, light and views and perfectly fit the owners brief of creating a large studio space for Alex,

a gallery space and an area where Mary, who recently retired as Bettys and Taylors Director of People and Change, could put a loom.

The couple were also keen to have some reference to two buildings they found inspirational, Shingle House, the late Derek Jarman’s home in Dungeness, and the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney.

The result is that the rear of what appears to be an ordinary 1920s semi, is sensational and unexpected. It includes an extension to the kitchen, which now houses the new dining area, painted in Red Earth by Farrow & Ball.

This space has an abundance of natural light and views of the garden thanks to a picture window at the end of the room, aluminium bi-fold doors along the whole of the right-hand wall and a large skylight.

A new dining table from Danish design company Hay and Wishbone chairs by Hans Wegner from Harrogate-based Cimmermann.co.uk perfectly complement the space.

What was the old dining area, adjacent to the kitchen, was then left free to host Mary’s loom, her desk and her silk yarns. There is also a new, floor-to-ceiling internal window looking onto the hallway.

“It brings in light and I love that if the doorbell rings, I can see who it is,” says Mary.

The piece de resistance is the new, glazed link corridor with French oak fins, which leads from the main house to Alex’s new studio. The link acts as a gallery for the couple’s own art collection and for the annual selling exhibition.

Constructed from concrete, steel and wood, the extensions are focused around a landscaped courtyard.

“The use of chamfered forms offer delight and interest, while bringing light deep into the plan of the existing house,” says Ruth Donnelly who specified red cedar cladding that was impregnated with black and grey under Mary and Alex’s instruction.

It is reminiscent of the cladding on Prospect Cottage and, with that in mind, the couple commissioned landscape architect Ian Campbell to help them create a version of Jarman’s now famous garden planted in the shingle on the Kent coast.

It is low maintenance and includes grasses, sea holly and rosemary, along with a water feature designed by the couple’s daughter Lauren Godfrey.

“It also involved buying 10 tons of Lydd shingle from Dungeness because we couldn’t find it in Yorkshire but it was worth it,” says Mary.

She and Alex also invested in a new kitchen for the open plan rear of the house, where the colour scheme was inspired by a Ben Nicholson print.

The sturdy old stand alone cabinets they bought from Habitat years ago have been upcycled for use in Alex’s studio and new Shaker-style cabinets and an island have taken their place.

The clever blend of stone and blue cabinetry, Paint and Paper Library’s pale pink Plaster III on the walls and Domus tiles behind the oven work wonderfully thanks to a blend of colour and pattern few would’ve thought of.

“We did our homework and so the new kitchen is from British Standard, which is a less expensive offshoot of Plain English,” says Mary, who loves cooking and entertaining,

Everything in the property has earned its place and art fills the walls in the new glazed link building and all the other walls and surfaces of the house.

The pictures, sculptures and woven silk you see here are by Alex and Mary and other artists who featured in the recent selling exhibition, including Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton and ceramicist Terry Shone, among many others. Most of the artists also feature in the couple’s own collection.

The cost of the new extensions was £180,000 plus VAT and they took 18 months to build. They have proved to be a great investment both for saleability and quality of life.

Useful Contacts: Doma Architects, Harrogate, www.domaarchitects.co.uk; www.alexmalcolmson.co.uk; www.marygodfrey.co.uk; www.laurengodfrey.co.uk; Ian Campbell and Helen Taylor garden design, www.helentaylorgardendesign.co.uk; www.godfreyandwatt.co.uk